Results cutoff: the end of Day 7, September 19, Japan time. Ōnosato and Kotozakura have put themselves at the front of the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament, each with six wins and one loss. Their advantage is narrow: ten wrestlers sit one win behind. The second week begins with a recognizable leading pair and a chasing group broad enough to keep the championship unsettled.[1]
The tournament runs September 13–27 at Tokyo’s Kokugikan. September 21 is Day 9. This assessment for that edition uses the confirmed Day 7 standings as its reference point, examining the bouts that shaped them and the separate struggle to secure a winning record.[2]
Two leaders, ten immediate pursuers
The Japan Sumo Association lists the following makuuchi wrestlers at one or two losses after Day 7. Their ranks describe their position on the tournament’s banzuke; the records describe what they have achieved during this tournament.[1]
| Wrestler | Rank | W–L |
|---|---|---|
| Ōnosato | East yokozuna | 6–1 |
| Kotozakura | West ōzeki | 6–1 |
| Kirishima | East ōzeki | 5–2 |
| Atamifuji | East sekiwake | 5–2 |
| Fujinokawa | West sekiwake | 5–2 |
| Churanoumi | West maegashira 3 | 5–2 |
| Rōga | East maegashira 5 | 5–2 |
| Asanoyama | East maegashira 6 | 5–2 |
| Fujiseiun | East maegashira 7 | 5–2 |
| Ura | East maegashira 9 | 5–2 |
| Kinbōzan | West maegashira 10 | 5–2 |
| Toshinofuji | West maegashira 16 | 5–2 |
Source: Japan Sumo Association. Wrestler names link to official Japanese profiles; English names checked against its directory.[1][17]
A shared record does not mean an identical route through the opposition, or an equal chance of lifting the trophy. It does establish how little separates the groups. If a leader loses while a pursuer wins, that one-win gap disappears. The coming results matter more than any attempt to turn the first week into a settled prediction.
Ōnosato’s autumn history—and a difficult intervening year
Ōnosato’s Day 7 victory over Churanoumi was particularly valuable because both entered the bout with one loss. His oshidashi win kept him in front while moving an immediate rival into the chasing group. Nikkan Sports confirmed that the yokozuna and Kotozakura were the remaining joint leaders.[15]
The official record supplies a useful historical frame. Ōnosato won the September tournaments in both 2024 and 2025, finishing 13–2 each time. But his 2026 record includes four losses and eleven absences in March, a complete absence in May and a 9–6 July tournament.[4]
Those results make the current start more interesting than a simple story of an established champion doing what was expected. His autumn record gives him precedent; this year’s interruptions give the pursuit a different context. Neither determines what happens next.
For now, the significance of the Churanoumi bout is concrete: a win for Ōnosato and a loss for someone who had been level with him. Maintaining that position requires further victories, not merely another reminder of past titles.
Kotozakura changes the scale of his ambitions
Kotozakura reached six wins by defeating Fujiryōga with katasukashi on Day 7.[3] His official record shows an 8–7 finish in July. He has already come within two victories of that total with eight days still remaining at the reporting cutoff.[5]
Two more wins would secure a winning record. Staying in the championship race demands much more. This is the point at which the same wrestler can be close to one objective while still a long way from another.
The distinction is useful for readers new to sumo. A positive tournament record and a championship are separate achievements. Kotozakura’s first week has made the larger objective credible, but it has not reduced the work required to achieve it.
The bout that helped reshape the chase
Aonishiki’s victory over Atamifuji carried consequences on both sides. The ōzeki stopped a three-bout losing streak and moved to 4–3; the sekiwake fell to 5–2, losing his place alongside the leaders. Yomiuri Shimbun recorded the winning technique as yorikiri; the association’s profiles confirm their records.[7][8][16]
The sumo editors at Baseball Magazine Sha emphasized how Aonishiki secured a left-hand belt grip first and kept moving, denying Atamifuji a settled chest-to-chest position.[6] Their account identifies something that the bare score cannot: the contest over whose preferred position would govern the bout.
Aonishiki is also the July makuuchi champion, according to the association’s career record.[7] At 4–3, he remains two wins behind the leaders. Ending a losing sequence was a necessary improvement; closing that gap requires a sustained change in results.
Atamifuji’s recent record gives his pursuit another dimension. He went 9–6 in May and 12–3 in July.[8] Kyodo describes him as seeking promotion to ōzeki this tournament.[3] That is a reported promotion campaign, not an announced decision or a guarantee tied to a particular final score.
His Day 7 defeat was costly without being conclusive. He remained one win off the lead. Treating every setback as the end of a campaign would misread how much competition was still left.
Kirishima, Fujinokawa and a newcomer
Kirishima beat Gonoyama by tottari to reach 5–2 and avoid consecutive defeats. Kyodo framed his tournament as a bid for yokozuna promotion.[3] The association’s record shows why his recent form deserves attention: a March championship followed by 12–3 finishes in both May and July.[9]
The promotion discussion adds pressure, but the immediate championship arithmetic remains straightforward. At the cutoff he was one win behind the leading pair, with his chances dependent on his own subsequent results and theirs.
Fujinokawa occupied the same 5–2 position from a different career stage. The association identifies September as his first sanyaku tournament, at west sekiwake.[10] His Day 7 win over Daieishō kept him close to the lead while bringing a winning record nearer.[16] Establishing himself at a new rank and pursuing an exceptional finish can happen at the same time.
Farther down the banzuke, Toshinofuji was also 5–2 in his makuuchi debut. His official profile records a professional debut in March 2024 and a September 2026 top-division arrival at west maegashira 16.[11] For him, the record supports two readings: participation in the immediate chase and a promising start toward securing eight wins.
Eight wins: the other race inside the tournament
In a fifteen-day makuuchi tournament, eight wins secure kachi-koshi, a winning record. At the end of Day 7, a 6–1 wrestler needs two more victories, a 5–2 wrestler needs three, and Aonishiki at 4–3 needs four. Each has eight days remaining, but a different margin for error.
The position is more demanding for the two komusubi. The association’s profiles show Daieishō at 2–5 and Hakunofuji at 1–6.[12][13] Reaching eight wins therefore requires six victories from the remaining eight days for Daieishō, and seven for Hakunofuji.
That calculation is not a forecast. It explains why bouts outside the leading group can become so tense. A wrestler trying to recover his tournament has a substantial reason to resist an opponent chasing the championship. The two stories meet on the same clay.
Nor should the eight-win threshold make all positive records look interchangeable. Once it is reached, further wins still improve the final result. A successful second week can turn a narrow escape into a stronger tournament; a poor finish can squander the room created by a good start.
The changing stage beneath a familiar tradition
September also has a place in the history of the tournament’s setting. The association dates the removal of the four posts surrounding the ring to September 1952, when a suspended roof and colored tassels replaced them. Kuramae Kokugikan opened in September 1954; the present Ryōgoku Kokugikan opened in January 1985.[14]
The scene that now appears so enduring has therefore changed within living memory. What links the different settings is the attention paid to each additional win: one may preserve a title challenge, another may rescue an otherwise disappointing tournament.
At the verified cutoff, Ōnosato and Kotozakura had earned the leading positions. The ten wrestlers immediately behind them had kept the race open. Following the second week means watching both that contest and the efforts of wrestlers still trying to turn their own tournament around.